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MANILA: Typhoon Kalmaegi has left at least 66 people dead with 26 others missing in the central Philippines, many in widespread flooding that trapped people on their roofs and swept away scores of cars in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake, officials said Wednesday.
Among the dead were six people who were killed in a separate incident when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday while en route to help provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said without providing other details, including what could have caused the crash.
Kalmaegi blew away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before noon on Wednesday with sustained winds of up to 130 kph (81 mph) and gusts of up to 180 kph (112 mph), according to forecasters.
Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, and provincial officials said most of the deaths were reported in the central province of Cebu, which was pummeled by Kalmaegi on Tuesday, setting off flash floods and causing a river and other waterways to swell.
The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing startled residents to climb up to their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as the floodwaters rose, officials said.
At least 49 mostly drowned in floods and a few others died due to landslides and falling debris in Cebu, where 13 of the 26 missing were reported, the Office of Civil Defense said on Wednesday.
The Philippine Red Cross received many calls from people needing rescue in Cebu from their roofs, its secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said Tuesday, adding the efforts had to wait until flooding subsided to lessen the risks for emergency personnel.
“We did everything we can for the typhoon but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press by telephone.
US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson expressed her condolences about the deaths and destruction following the storm. “Working with our friends, partners, allies, the United States stands ready to assist,” she said in a post on X.
Torrential rains sparked by the typhoon may have been worsened by years of quarrying that caused heavy siltation of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province, Baricuatro said.
A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public outrage and street protests in recent months.
“There has to be an investigation of the flood control projects here in Cebu and people should be held accountable,” Baricuatro said.
Cebu, a bustling province of more than 2.4 million people, declared a state of calamity to allow authorities to disburse emergency funds more rapidly to deal with the latest natural disaster.
Cebu was still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 30 that left at least 79 people dead and displaced thousands when houses collapsed or were severely damaged.
Thousands of northern Cebu residents who were displaced by the earthquake were moved to sturdier evacuation shelters from flimsy tents before the typhoon struck, Baricuatro said, adding that northern towns devastated by the earthquake were mostly not hit by floods generated by Kalmaegi.
Other typhoon deaths, included the drowning in floodwaters of an elderly villager in Southern Leyte province after the typhoon made landfall in one of its eastern towns facing the Pacific. Other residents died separately elsewhere after drowning or due to falling trees and debris, officials said.
Before Kalmaegi’s landfall, officials said more than 387,000 people had evacuated to safer ground in eastern and central Philippine provinces. Authorities had warned of torrential rains, potentially destructive winds and storm surges of up to three meters (nearly 10 feet).
Interisland ferries and fishing boats were prohibited from venturing out to increasingly rough seas, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and cargo truck drivers in nearly 100 seaports, the coast guard said. At least 186 domestic flights were canceled.
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
Central Vietnam, still reeling for days of record rain that triggered flash floods and landslides, was bracing for more pounding rain as Kalmaegi nears, with state media reporting emergency measures to confront both the storm and the flooding expected to follow. Along the coast, fishing boats are racing back to shore while local authorities ready evacuation plans, secure shelters and stockpile food.
Forecasters estimate the storm will reach Vietnam’s coast Friday morning.